For those of you following along with my tobacco cessation quest. Last Friday I developed a medical condition in my mouth. Of course this brought about a great deal of concern from inside of me. I was wondering (was scared shitless about) what it could be. There is nothing like a good anxiety attack to get you going. Being somewhat impatient and conscious I decided to let my fingers do the walking. Needless to say the Internet is an awesome tool. Something that might take several hours or days to research now can be confirmed within a few minutes; if you look in the right places. Look in the wrong places and you could end up jumping off a bridge. By that I mean you could end up with the wrong diagnosis over a current medical condition.
There are those of you that will say “Let the Doctor’s do the diagnosis.” And to that I respond, “Absolutely! I totally agree with you.” However, it was Friday night and I had to know. So what I found were some gruesome tales, even more gruesome pictures and a whole lot of information to process. So why bother, Right? Truth is when I completed my rudimentary diagnosis I determined first and foremost, that I needed to go to the doctor. This condition regardless of what ailment it was was not going away on its own. I decided that it was most likely brought on by quitting chew and the over consumption of the Altoids and that it was most likely Thrush. I had never heard of Thrush. It is simply a yeast infection. It is very much the same as a common female condition, except this was in my mouth. In fact the active ingredient in Monistat is the same active ingredient in pills and liquid they use to treat Thrush. If thrush reaches the digestive tract and the blood system it can wreak all kinds of havoc. Including liver failure, kidney failure, on and on and on…. my initial determination was that if it had not improved over the weekend then I would go to the doctor.
There are those of you that will say “Let the Doctor’s do the diagnosis.” And to that I respond, “Absolutely! I totally agree with you.” However, it was Friday night and I had to know. So what I found were some gruesome tales, even more gruesome pictures and a whole lot of information to process. So why bother, Right? Truth is when I completed my rudimentary diagnosis I determined first and foremost, that I needed to go to the doctor. This condition regardless of what ailment it was was not going away on its own. I decided that it was most likely brought on by quitting chew and the over consumption of the Altoids and that it was most likely Thrush. I had never heard of Thrush. It is simply a yeast infection. It is very much the same as a common female condition, except this was in my mouth. In fact the active ingredient in Monistat is the same active ingredient in pills and liquid they use to treat Thrush. If thrush reaches the digestive tract and the blood system it can wreak all kinds of havoc. Including liver failure, kidney failure, on and on and on…. my initial determination was that if it had not improved over the weekend then I would go to the doctor.
When I had completed my prognosis I decided I would be going regardless. As it turned out it had progressed into my throat and down my esophagus and possible as far as my stomach. I could actually feel its progress. It got to the point that it felt like food was stuck in my throat, I could hardly swallow, and I had the sensation of a marble sitting on top of the “valve” to my stomach.
The earliest they could fit me in was Monday at 3:00pm. The nurse put me through all the basics and then asked what the problem was. I couldn’t resist, I stuck my tongue out at her, and once her eyes focused she kind of backed off a little and said “ok then, huge nasty looking furry spotted tongue, we have a new doctor do you mind if we send her in?" I said "Not at all." I just wanted this thing diagnosed and treated. The doctor came in a few minutes later and said she wanted me to stick out my tongue. She asked me a bunch of questions as she inspected it. I informed her that I’d quit chewing and that I’d been without chew for well over a week. She then left and came back with my regular doctor who asked me to show her too. By this time I felt like a circus freak, “The hairy tongued frog man”. My regular doctor says rather abruptly and with raised voice, “Stop the lozenges!” To which I responded in kind,” I already have!” And she said “Good, let me write you a script for the patches”, referring to nicotine patches. I told her, “No that’s ok I’m past most of the withdrawal now, and I’d rather not." She then wrote a script for the pills (fluconazole) and a liquid (Nystatin) to swish and swallow until after the Thrush appeared to be gone.
The pills weren't so bad there were two of them and they were to be taken 1 a day for 2 days, no big deal. The oral rinse on the other hand, said it could give me headaches, make me nauseated and cause vomiting. It has caused all three in varying degrees all week. It’s finally subsiding but it's still not very fun. I can attest to everything they said might happen on the information sheet, does. To top it off I have to take this for 48 hours after resolution. Which means once you think it's gone, take some more and if you run out come get another bottle just so you can take some more. Apparently yeast infection is pretty resilient and likes to hide so they over treat it just to make sure it’s gone. On the bright side it tastes ok, well at least it does the first time.
Stopping tobacco sucks but going overboard on the Altoids made it worse. I’m still tobacco free. But this was pretty freaky. The Altoids were barely a success this time. I don’t think I would consider doing this with the Altoids again or at least not by themselves. Let’s hope I never have to. The Thrush meds said they would make me sick and they have. I’ve been nauseated and ill since Monday night. I cannot wait for this stuff to be gone
The earliest they could fit me in was Monday at 3:00pm. The nurse put me through all the basics and then asked what the problem was. I couldn’t resist, I stuck my tongue out at her, and once her eyes focused she kind of backed off a little and said “ok then, huge nasty looking furry spotted tongue, we have a new doctor do you mind if we send her in?" I said "Not at all." I just wanted this thing diagnosed and treated. The doctor came in a few minutes later and said she wanted me to stick out my tongue. She asked me a bunch of questions as she inspected it. I informed her that I’d quit chewing and that I’d been without chew for well over a week. She then left and came back with my regular doctor who asked me to show her too. By this time I felt like a circus freak, “The hairy tongued frog man”. My regular doctor says rather abruptly and with raised voice, “Stop the lozenges!” To which I responded in kind,” I already have!” And she said “Good, let me write you a script for the patches”, referring to nicotine patches. I told her, “No that’s ok I’m past most of the withdrawal now, and I’d rather not." She then wrote a script for the pills (fluconazole) and a liquid (Nystatin) to swish and swallow until after the Thrush appeared to be gone.
The pills weren't so bad there were two of them and they were to be taken 1 a day for 2 days, no big deal. The oral rinse on the other hand, said it could give me headaches, make me nauseated and cause vomiting. It has caused all three in varying degrees all week. It’s finally subsiding but it's still not very fun. I can attest to everything they said might happen on the information sheet, does. To top it off I have to take this for 48 hours after resolution. Which means once you think it's gone, take some more and if you run out come get another bottle just so you can take some more. Apparently yeast infection is pretty resilient and likes to hide so they over treat it just to make sure it’s gone. On the bright side it tastes ok, well at least it does the first time.
Stopping tobacco sucks but going overboard on the Altoids made it worse. I’m still tobacco free. But this was pretty freaky. The Altoids were barely a success this time. I don’t think I would consider doing this with the Altoids again or at least not by themselves. Let’s hope I never have to. The Thrush meds said they would make me sick and they have. I’ve been nauseated and ill since Monday night. I cannot wait for this stuff to be gone
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